Juliana Krüdener, Baroness von

Krüdener, Juliana, Baroness von (fən krüdˈənər) [key], 1764–1824, Russian novelist and mystic. Born a Livonian aristocrat, she married a Russian diplomat. She left her husband (1801) for the pleasures of literary and social life in Paris and Switzerland. There Krüdener wrote a sentimental, largely autobiographical novel, Valérie (1804), which became a literary sensation. Converted to Moravian pietism, she devoted herself to preaching her faith and for a time held enormous influence over Alexander I of Russia. She claimed to have inspired the formation of the Holy Alliance of Russia, Austria, and Prussia.